1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a person counting device, a person counting system, and a person counting method that counts the number of persons that have passed through a doorway based on an imaged image in which surroundings of a doorway for entering or leaving a predetermined place in a store or the like is imaged.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a store such as a convenience store, a monitoring camera system that monitors persons in the store using an image imaged by a camera installed in the store is widespread. However, if the number of entering persons and leaving persons are acquired by detecting the number of persons passing through the doorway of the store and counting the persons entering and leaving the store using an image imaged by a camera, it can be considered that there will be an improved way of effectively managing the store, and thus, it is possible to improve the sales and profits of the store.
As a device relating to counting the number of persons passing through the doorway of the store, a technology is known in the related art, in which a count line for counting the number of passing persons is set on the image imaged by the camera, and when a moving line for the person acquired from the imaged image crosses the count line, it is determined that the person has crossed the count line, and then, the person is counted (refer to Japanese Patent No. 3218521 and Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2009-211311).
In addition, a technology is known, in which, a person can reliably be detected by detecting a person from an image imaged by a general monitoring camera and by measuring a distance to the counting target by a range camera using a laser light, even in a situation in which it is difficult to appropriately detect a person in the detection of a person using an image imaged by a general monitoring camera (refer to Japanese Patent No. 5396192).
In a case where the number of persons passing through a doorway of a store is counted, the persons may be detected by an imaged image in which surroundings of the doorway are imaged from the inside of the store. However, when it is difficult to identify a person and the background in such a case where a person is dressed in a color close to black in a situation in which the outside of the store is dark at night time, there is a problem that the person detection may fail and omissions may occur in counting the number of persons, and thus, the accuracy in counting the number of persons deteriorates.
In technologies disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3218521 and Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2009-211311, no consideration is taken into account with respect to the above-described problem, and thus, it is difficult to solve the problem of deterioration of the accuracy in counting the number of persons caused by omissions in counting the number of persons.
On the other hand, in a technology disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 5396192, since it is possible to detect a person even in a situation in which it is difficult to appropriately detect a person in the detection of a person using an image imaged by a general monitoring camera, it is possible to reduce omissions in counting the number of persons. However, in that case, there is a problem that the cost increases because a specialized device such as the range camera is needed. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a technology in which the accuracy in counting the number of persons can be improved by reducing omissions in counting the number of persons even in a case where the person detection is performed using only the image imaged by a general monitoring camera without using a specialized device.